ISLE OF THE ‘GREAT THING.’
A PRIZE YARN ABOUT A MIXED SEA MONSTER. (January 6, 1904) (Combination of Fish, Alligator and Bat Found.) Throws the old Sea Serpent Into the Shade—Gigantic Survivor of Prehistoric Ages is Over Sixty-five Feet Long, and Equally at Home in Air or Sea.
Salt Lake, Utah.—A terrible, nameless, unclassified creature of the animal world is exciting the curiosity, wonder and fear of occasional visitors to Stansbury Island, in the southern portion of Great Salt Lake. This monster, so strange and unnatural in appearance, has lately, it is said, been seen by several persons, but the best account of its characteristics and movement is given by Martin Gilbert and John Barry, two hunters who this week returned from an expedition over the island, in the course of which they studied the habits of this hitherto unheard of creature for three days. The monster, which appears to be almost equally at home in the air, on the bench, or submerged in the briny waters of Salt Lake, is probably the sole survivor of a prehistoric species. It is doubtless the last representative of a family whose other members, dead ages since, have left the testimony of their existence in the primeval rocks of the mountains. Arranging in concise form the description of this incredible relic of the animal world, from the accounts given by those who have observed it at close range, it seems in plain, unscientific language, a combination of fish, allgator, and bat.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE BEAST.
In size it is simply tremendous. Gilbert places its length at sixty feet, while Barry, who is an amateur scientist, says that an examination of Its tracks demonstrates that the monster must be sixty-five feet from head to tail.
The head is like that of an alligator, the eyes fiercely glowing, the jaws, capable of opening to a distance of ten feet from the top of the upper to the lower, are provided with a fearful array of sharp saw-edged teeth; the body, so far as observation goes, is encased with heavy horny scales. As to this Gilbert and Barry are not positive, as the constant diving of the beast, if such it may be called, into the strong brine of the lake has incrusted it with a thick coating of salt, which, save near the wings, completely hides the body. According to their account they first sighted it at a distance of between one and a half and two miles. The day was clear, the sun intensely bright. Gilbert’s own words of the discovery are: We were walking westward from the east shore of the island about 9 o’clock in the morning, when suddenly to the northwest there appeared a Thing, I don’t know what to call it; it looked to me like a brilliant rainbow folded into a compact mass, moving rapidly through the air. “I was so astounded that for a few moments I doubted the evidence of my own senses. The object came nearer, but the colors were so dazzling that it was some time before it assumed definite form. No one who has not witnessed the sight can conceive its strangeness. The mass of color was glowing, flaming, radiant. I spoke to Barry, saying: “‘For God’s sake, man can you see that?’ and he was no less astonished than myself. “In three or four minutes the monster’s position was such that it no longer reflected the sunlight directly toward us, and we could then discern the outline of the form. Its wings were batlike, stretching out over a great expanse, I should say at least one hundred feet from tip to tip. The tail was proportionately short and resembled that of a huge fish. We were not close enough at this time to tell much about the head, only we saw that the jaws were very long. In shape the head was like that of a crocodile.&dsquo; Gilbert gave a long account of how he and Barry watched the monster, which supported its enormous wings, swung round and round in immense circles through the air, gradually descending and approaching nearer to them. He declares that it was not more than 300 yards above their heads, when, now convinced that the awful creature was about to attack them, he fired at the monster with his rifle, a 0.4-calibre gun loaded with a steel-cased bullet. The missile, he believes, struck fair, but inflicted no apparent wound. The monster gave utterance to a strange, fear-inspiring cry, half snort, half roar, and, rising rapidly in the air, veered quickly to the west, and after three miles of flight settled down and disappeared beyond the crest of the hills.
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BULLET HAD NO EFFECT. A few seconds after the shot was fired, while the hunters were watching the flight of the dragon-like beast, some small lumps of salt fell almost at their feet. They were more than ever mystified by this, but not until the next day were they able to ascertain its source.
Determined to learn more, of the monster, Gilbert and Barry hastened in the direction of its flight, and after surmounting the range of hills to the westward, found with little trouble the tracks the beast had left in the soil after ceasing its flight. These led the hunters to an immense cave, near the head of a narrow gulch. They approached to within three rods of the opening in the rocks, but finding that the freshest footprints led into the gloomy cavern feared at that time to make any closer inspection. “These tracks,” said Barry, “were five-toed, almost exactly like the imprint of a gigantic hand, if you can imagine a hand nearly four feet across the palm.” Gilbert and Barry constructed a barricade for themselves of the largest rocks they were able to handle and lay down to await the results. The day wore on and the men were weary and almost despairing of success in their virgll, when, just at dusk, the horrible creature crawled slowly from the cave, and, pausing at its mouth to take flight, gave them their first view at close range. Barry says that the hackneyed phrase of exaggeration, “made his blood run cold,” is none too strong for the sight they saw. “The monster slowly moved his great jaws,” declared the hunter, in speaking of his experience, “until it scented as if he could have swallowed a large horse at one mouthful. He gave a snort that might have been heard a mile, and then slowly spread his huge wings. We now saw that the huge body was coated with salt, apparently nearly a foot in thickness. This explained why the salt lumps dropped at our feet when the bullet struck the monster. By this we knew that the creature must spend much of its time in the waters of the lake. “The great beast made a short run before taking flight, taking long jumps upon its hind legs and tail. The fore legs were comparatively short, and appeared to be used only when it crawled flat upon the ground. “The frightful head was not more than ten feet from us when it rose in the air, but so well were we screened by our shelter of rocks that we were unobserved. The large, fiercely gleaming eyes, the sharp, serrated teeth, the wide expanse of wings that began to move rapidly as the horrible beast rose from the ground and passed directly over our heads, combined to make a terrible sight—one that I shall never forget. “We watched it disappear in the gathering gloom of night, but were for a long time paralyzed with fear, not knowing when it might return. It was probably an hour later when it did come back. “We heard the swish of the mighty wings before it could be seen, but as it drew nearer, by the light of the young moon in the west, we saw that carried in its great jaws was a large horse, which I suppose it had swooped down upon while feeding. The horse was badly crushed and mangled.
* * * FEASTED ON THE HORSE.
“The monster carried its burden into the cave and we could hear the crunching of its jaws and the cracking of the horse’s bones as the beast devoured its victim. After an hour or so all was still and we then slipped quietly away in the darkness and returned to our camp on the eastern shore of the island. “Had it not been for a bad break in our boat we would have fled the Island that night. As it was we worked all night to repair the craft, although the task might have been accomplished in two hours except that we feared to build a fire to afford light. “It was just dawn and we were preparing to launch, when Gilbert said: “There it comes again!’ In an instant we turned the boat bottom up and crawled under it. One end was lifted about a foot above the end by a rock, and we were able to watch the monster’s actions. “It settled down on the beach less than fifty yards to the north and dived quickly into the lake. From its actions while nearly buried under the waves I judged that the creature was gathering and feeding upon the salt water shrimps which abound along the coast there. When the monster came up it was very close to us, and we were particularly impressed by the fact that the strong brine had no effect upon its eyes, which appeared lidless. Evidently the animal’s food in the water was found by the sense of sight. “Although of such gigantic size, there was nothing sluggish in the movements of the monster. It swam and dived as rapidly as any large fish. “We watched it for perhaps half an hour as it gradually worked its way northward and finally disappeared.”—Philadelphia Record. From— The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.). 06 Jan. 1904. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
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